Achieving Moksha – Freedom from Karma

Karma, like gravity, is a law that is acting on you and me. Karma can mean many things, but the fundamental idea is that we have deeds, and the merit for virtuous deeds and the penalty for evil deeds attach to our souls. Unless our deeds are completely virtuous then there is a payment required of us, and unless that payment is made we are in bondage.

All of us instinctively feel this in some way. And by our knowledge and wisdom we have invented many ways to deal with accumulated karma. There is karma marga (way of works) where we labor hard to have good works. There are mantras and pujas that are recited. There are festivals and bathings that are sought, such as the Kumbha Mela Festival. These ways are all difficult and we never have assurance that our efforts have been sufficient. Were the motives behind our actions good enough? Were a sufficient number of deeds good enough? We are never sure. And so, like gravity, we live in karma, unable to break free and attain Moksha. This is why before doing pujas people say the Prartha Snana (or Pratasana) mantram (“I am a sinner. I am the result of sin. I am born in sin. My soul is under sin. I am the worst of sinners. O Lord who has the beautiful eyes, Save me, O Lord of the Sacrifice.”)

Prajapati / Yahweh: God who Provides in Sacrifice

So who is this ‘Lord of the sacrifice’? And how can He save us from this Law of Karma? In the very earliest Veda texts, the God who was Lord of all Creation – the one who made and controlled the universe – was called Prajapati. It is through Prajapati that everything else came into being.

Around the same time that the Rg Veda was written down, about 1500 BC, another set of scriptures was also being recorded in another part of the earth – in what is now called the Middle East. These earliest Hebrew texts of the Veda Pusthakam (Bible) is known as the Torah. The Torah begins with the declaration that there is one God who is the Creator of the whole universe. In the transliteration from the original Hebrew this God was called either Elohim or Yahweh and these names are interchanged back and forth throughout in these Hebrew texts. Thus, like Prajapati in the Rg Veda, Yahweh or Elohim in the Torah was (and is) Lord of all Creation.

Early In the Torah, Yahweh also reveals Himself as the God ‘who Provides’ in a remarkable encounter with the Rsi called Abraham. We will look at this encounter in more detail later. For the moment I just want to note the similarity with Yahweh who provides (transliterated from Hebrew as Yahweh-yireh) with that of Prajapati in Rg Veda who is “the protector or supporter of creatures”.

In what way does Yahweh provide? We have already noted the need we have to get free from Karma, and we have noted the mantram which prays to the ‘Lord of the Sacrifice’. The Rg Veda expands on this by telling us:

Sanskrit scholar H. Aguilar comments on this by translating from Sathapatha Brahmana the following:

“And indeed, there was no other (victim) meet for sacrifice but that one Prajapati, and the gods set about offering him up in sacrifice. Wherefore it is with reference to this that sage has said: ‘The gods offered up the sacrifice with the help of the sacrifice – for with the help of the sacrifice they did offer up him (Prajapati), the sacrifice – these were the first ordinances, for these laws were instituted first” H. Aguilar, The Sacrifice in the Rg Veda

The Vedas from the earliest time declares that Prajapati (or Yahweh) recognized the need we had so He provided for our Karma in a self-sacrifice. How He did it we look at in later articles as we concentrate on the Purusa-Prajapati sacrifice of the Purusasukta in Rg Veda, but for now just think how important this is. The Svetasvataropanisad says

‘there is no other way to enter eternal life ( Sanskrit: Nanyahpantha vidyate – ayanaya) Svetasvataropanisad 3:8

If you are interested in escaping Karma, if you desire Moksha or enlightenment then it would be wise to be informed about what has been revealed about how and why Prajapati (or Yahweh) provided for us through self-sacrifice of Jesus so that we can escape karma and gain heaven. And the Vedas do not leave us hanging. In Rg Veda is the Purusasukta which describes the incarnation of Prajapati and the sacrifice He made for us. Click here to see the introduction to Purusasukta which describes Purusa like the Bible (Veda Pusthakam) describes Yeshu Satsang (Jesus of Nazareth) and his sacrifice to bring you Moksha or Mukti (immortality). Then we continue through these vedas and see how the ancient Rsi Job could declare his freedom from Karma and his anticipation of eternal life – he had been given Moksha.

Hello Ratna
Thank you for your comment! The only thing I would like to point out is that when you say ‘No one can know the truth’ you are – by that very statement – making an absolute claim to truth. It is rather ironic is it not. Perhaps no one can know the truth, but then again, perhaps we can. At least it does not hurt to look into what the ancient books of wisdom say

It is clear from the name of your site itself “CONSIDER THE GOSPEL” and whatever you mean by “Vedic Cups” that you are in this for converting people from Hinduism to Christianity.

I would request you missionary people to stop using Hindu terminology to fuel your evil soul-harvesting purposes. We all know about your new strategy to use inculturation to convert… Jesus sitting in a Yogic pose, etc. Don’t take us a fools.

I want to ask you! Does your Bible not have anything original that you need words like Karma and Moksha to go on? Are your scriptures so weak in front of ours? Doesn’t that prove how artificial and plagiaristic you people are? If you love Jesus, why not stay in the Biblical context, and stop stealing concepts from Hindus? If you are a true Christian, stop abusing our philosophy and importing our concepts. Either try and study your own faith better, or simply accept Hinduism, and go on with it. Don’t try to create a breed between two fundamentally different religions. We all know what that leads to. Stop this sin, if you are true to Jesus.

You have destroyed enough civilisations over the past 2000 years. You tried to do so here for the past 300 years… obviously you have miserably failed. So, lay off and don’t irritate us anymore. Stop trying to create divides in the Hindu populace of my country. It’s not a sin that even your Jesus can wipe out. Remember that.

Roger
It is clear that you misunderstand the Gospel. THe Gospel has never limited itself to one cultural form. This is why you see it lived and expressed in so many forms. You seem to have an issue with Christianity. Fine. Reject it. But the person and work of Jesus still stands and beckons. Look at the following article about Jesus. Is it Hindu or Christian? It is not Christian but it definitely is about Jesus and the Gospel. Everyone deserves to have the chance to understand the gospel and Jesus in a form that makes sense to him or her.

Truth cannot be explained in words. The ultimate truth is beyond perception of senses which can only be realized within with the help of knowledge. If one is unable to know the truth then how the seers, sages and enlightened of the past eulogized the The Ultimate Truth which dwells within the god made temple of human body. The adjectival terminology to refer the ultimate truth are countless but in the essence the real name is one for which no script, language, and words are necessary to explain as it is beyond materialistic boundary. To know more about it you are requested to visit http://www.manavdharam.org where more detail have been given on the matter. Thanks. Keep smiling.

Hi Jagdish
Thanks for your insightful comment. You provide food for thought. The Gospel message would agree that Ultimate Truth goes deeper than words. The Gospel expresses Truth in the following way.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Jesus (Yeshu Satsang) is proclaimed in the Gospel as this incarnation of Light. But to understand this we need to understand what our ‘darkness’ is and how this Light shines into the darkness. As we recognize the seriousness of our sin and karma then perhaps it provides motivation to understand this Light. And though words will never fully capture it, the Bible (Veda Pusthakam) contains a message that we can consider and decide if we will accept to free us from our sin and karma.

Your statement In the beginning….from first verse of chapter 1 of St. John is the ultimate goal of human life. But the word is yet to be realized. The Word the scientific terminology of which is Primordial Vibration is present in every spec of the universe. The word had been expressed different holy sriptures as Sabda (Word) Brahma, Akchhar Brahma, Holy Name, Gaibi Aaawaj, Paak Nam etc. But realization of the word is different aspect of spirituality without which mere study of books and religion will land nowhere eventually.

In the Genensis it has clearly been mentioned that “Lord god created man of the dust of ground and breath into his nostril the breath of life and man became a living soul”.

Here, it is to be noted that it declared that man became a living soul with the breath of life not mere modification of flesh, bone and blood.

The secret of the breath is still remained to be known practically which is only possible with initiation into knowledge of Soul which stands for Subject of Universal Life.

Is it possible to know the Ultimate truth?

Yes, For the living knowledge there must a Living Teacher to reveal the WORD to us.

Hi Jagdish
THank you for your thoughtful comment. Your understanding of the creation of man in Genesis is the same as mine. Man became ‘a living soul’ only when God breathed life into him, not when merely the constituent proteins were organized from the elements of the ground. So the secret of the breath must come from the Breather. As you say it must come from a Living Teacher. The claim of the gospel is that Jesus is very much alive. After he was crucified he rose physically from the dead and he offers this life to anyone who would want it. I have not yet put up any articles on this but certainly the possibility of this being true, being the key to unlocking Ultimate Truth should motivate us to consider seriously the gospel. Discussions like this do help to that end so I thank you for your comment

Hi Arjun
Thanks for your comment. I do not disagree either. I think that if something is True it should align with other truth. Science is fundamentally about what we observe in the present and, even more particularly, about what is repeatable. Gravity is a good example of that. We can observe it in the present and it is repeatable. There is much that is verifiable about the Gospel. Are you asking more in terms of historical verification or scientific verifications of present-day processes?

if we said i know that mean we do not know.if we said i do not know than you know something.ultimate truth is only we can feel that we can not tell to each other because that is wordless.if we like to find ultimate truth we have to find true path.thanks.

Hi Preet
This is a great question. I guess for my part I approach spiritual laws pragmatically. I need a principle or law that can deal with my sin. As I explain in my article here, the only principle available where we know that sin is properly cleansed is the sacrifice of Jesus. I think we need to assess is sacrifice from the perspective of our need. Without judging where others stand I need to assess for myself if I want the gift of his sacrifice to cleanse my sins.

Actually u people don’t know that there is no god in this world.iam trusting this god from my childhood done many poojas many fastings etc etc..recently I lost my 9months old child.actually wen I was carrying prayed a lot for a healthy child but that heart less god given me a baby with heart problem and have to b done with 2surgers but for having only one surgery.and even having many problems like growth delay,delayed milestones and brain problems etc..DAT god given these many problems to my child.nicely enjoyed her suffering and strugglings from top but still dissatisfied that’s y taken away my child from dis world.. I think now he satisfied.. Now he is Happy I believe..if he is a god y to send a child in did world and my life and y to put her in so many struggles and y to take away from did world?some people says wat ever vl happen vl happen for our good..is dis good?